Appropriate, yes?

I’d love to see this performance of the Dialogue of the Carmelites, in a Rochester church.

Much of Dialogue is set in a Carmelite convent, and judging from the riveting performances on Wednesday night, one suspects that Eastman’s young singers were inspired by their realistic and authentic surroundings.

What’s more, Eastman director Steven Daigle often had his cast walk through the aisles of the church and pray at side altars. This brought the singers closer to the audience, and gave everyone a sense of being part of the action.

Eastman’s decision to use a piano instead of the orchestra was largely based on practical considerations — there was no place to put the orchestra in this church, which obviously doesn’t have a pit.

All the same, Hess proved to be a convincing 88-key ensemble. His playing had power, sweep and drama, and his ability to match perfectly the emotions of his singers was extraordinary.

Poulenc’s 1957 masterpiece, based on a play by Georges Bernanos, ostensibly tells the story of a Carmelite convent during the terror of the French Revolution. On a deeper level, though, this remarkable opera explores the universality of suffering and redemptive powers of grace